Category Archives: cheese

Jack is Cooking Pizza!!

Posted on by under bread, cheese, gouda, green pepper, ham, mozzarella, onion, red pepper, Tomato
Well Hello Internet!
So the other night, julie suggested we make pizza.  i thought that was just a FANtastic idea, so we did!   i used the a little dough i saved from making bread on monday night, and then also some other leftover ingredients i had in my fridge.
Making pizza is LOTs of fun!  you can put almost anything on it that your heart desires.  Also, if you can’t make your own dough its easy to buy.  some supermarkets have ready made dough, but also most pizzerias (at least here in NYC) will sell the dough pretty cheaply.
heres what we used:
as you can see in the above pictures the ingredients are:
Mozzarella
Red and Green Peppers
Some Chopped up Ham
Some Gouda (grated)
Diced Tomatoes
and also we caramelized some onions to put on after the pizza was cooked:
Theres the dough rising a little in the upper left corner of that last picture!
So after the dough rose for like 1.5 hours we spread it out and put the diced tomatoes all over it:
Then i got some new lights in my kitchen, so i could take better pictures!  haha
anyways, after the tomatoes, we put on the sliced mozzarella, red and green peppers, ham, and gouda cheese.  plus a little salt and pepper.
We baked it in the oven for 20 minutes at 450°.  after we took it out of the oven, we put the caramelized onions on it, cut it up and ate it!
I was hoping for some leftovers for lunch today, but the thing was so damn delicious we ate the whole pizza!

Jack is Cooking Penne Alfredo with Sausage

Posted on by under butter, cheese, garlic, onion, parmesan, parsley, pasta, sausage





Well Hello Internet!


For this recipe you will need:

Pasta
half an onion
two cloves of garlic
some sausage – i used Sweet Italian Sausage from Herondale Farm (www.herondalefarm.com)
Parmesan Cheese (3/4 cup)
Light Cream (half-3/4 cup)
Butter
Parsley (optional. i didn’t have any, but its good if you have just a little)

Jack is Cooking Butternut Squash Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce

Posted on by under butter, butternut squash, cheese, flour, garlic, leeks, pasta, Ravioli

Well Hello internet!

Last night for dinner i went all out and made ravioli.  From scratch!  That’s right i made the pasta dough, and the filling, and the sauce.
But i can’t say that I did it all alone, i had help from my good friend Julie – who also took most of these pictures!
Not only was this extremely delicious, it was easy to make and also lots of fun!

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on a side note, if one were to peruse the archives, they would find that the first video i ever made for jackiscooking, way back in 2007 was butternut squash ravioli.  except when i made it then, it was pre-made frozen ravioli!  This is much better!  check out that post here.
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Heres what you will need:

For the Filling:

one butternut squash.
one leak (or an onion)
a couple of cloves of garlic
salt and pepper

For the Pasta Dough:
2 cups of flour
3 egg yolks
4 tablespoons of water + some extra

One egg for the making of the Raviolis

For the Alfredo Sauce
half a cup of butter
1 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1 cup of cream
Garlic
Parsley
Pepper.

First, we cut the squash in half and took out the seeds.  Then we roasted it with the flesh side down for 30 minutes at 375° with a little olive oil.

While this was cooking I made the pasta dough.
I put 2 cups of white flour in a bowl, and made a well in the center.  In this well i put the 3 egg yolks, and the 4-5 tablespoons of water.  i slowly worked flour in from the sides until i had a dough.  (if necessary, you can add more water)
Knead this ball of dough for 10 minutes, and then coat it in oil and let it sit for another 10 minutes.  This will allow gluten to develop.
Heres my ball of dough:

While the dough is sitting, and the squash continues to roast, it is time to saute the leek and garlic.  so take your leek (that has been cleaned thoroughly and diced) and add it to some melted butter in a pan.  cook this for about 5 minutes and then add in the garlic (also diced).
If you’ve been counting my minutes, you will have figured out that about 30 minutes has elapsed now, and so the squash should be ready to come out of the oven.  Remove it from the oven and let it cool.

 
The Leeks should also be done at this point so those can be taken off the heat, and also allowed to cool.
Next up comes the mixing of the filling.  Scoop out the squash into a bowl and get rid of the skins.
Mush it up real nice with a fork, and then add in the leeks.  Mix these together until they are well incorporated.
Now its time to return to the dough!  So cut the ball in half and roll out they two halves until they are really thin.  If you have a fancy pasta roller, you can use that.  If you have a rolling pin, you can use that also.  But I have neither!  So i decided a wine bottle would work really nicely!
Now comes the time to make the raviolis!  Take maybe 1 or 2 tablespoons (depending how big you want the raviolis) of the squash mixture and put them in little balls over one layer of the dough.  (remember!  you want to get as mush use out of this dough as you can, so place the balls well.
Take the egg for the ravioli and mix that up.   brush it everywhere on the dough where there is not squash.  next take the other sheet of dough and place it on top.  press down in between all the balls.  now its starting to look a little like ravioli!
Cut between all the ravioli, and press down all the edges – sealing inside all that squashy goodness!
Next bring a pot of water to boil.
While the water is boiling, it is a good time to start making the Alfredo sauce.
Take the butter and melt it in a pan.  Add in the cream.  Stir and simmer.  Add in the cheese, and let it melt.  add in the garlic, salt and pepper.  if you have any parsley that is nice too.
ok put that to the side.
The water has now boiled!  so its time to cook our ravioli.  just a few at a time.  i made 10 ravioli, so 5 at a time, which is essentially a serving.  or a little more, these are pretty filling!
Fresh pasta, takes no time at all to cook.  maybe 2 or 3 minutes. Ravioli conveniently will let you know when they are done, because they float!  so when they float you can scoop them out and serve.  Put some of the delicious Alfredo sauce over it, and thats it!
So that’s it!  and as always, (well normally always in my video blogs) the first bite on camera!
Special Thanks to Julie – who provided much help in the preparation, and also most of the photos!

Jack is (was) Cooking Pastrami – back in july

Posted on by under cheese, green pepper, ground beef, juniper berries, Pastrami, salt, sour kraut

Well hello internet!

This post is a little unusual, because i am not actually cooking pastrami right now. But i did! this past summer! and man oh man was it delicious!

Heres what made me think about it:
today i decided to bite the bullet and spend 17 dollars on a Reuben Sandwich from Katz’s Deli.

i eat maybe one of these a year.

but they are the most delicious thing probably ever.

so!

it made me remember, that i can actually make this myself! it just takes a month…

Heres how i did it.

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons black peppercorns

2 tablespoon plus 4 teaspoons dried thyme
12 bay leaves, crumbled
4 teaspoons whole cloves
1/2 cup minced garlic
4 teaspoons whole juniper berries, plus 2/3 cup crushed juniper berries
32 cups (or 8 quarts) water
1 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cup kosher salt
1 (8 to 10 pound) beef brisket
1 1/3 cup coarsely ground black pepper

In a bowl mix the peppercorns, thyme, bay leaves, cloves, garlic, and the whole juniper berries. in a giant pot – big enough to hold 32 cups of water! Mix the Water, the Sugar, and the Salt, until everything is dissolved. Remove from heat and add in the spice mixture from the bowl. let it steep like tea, for an hour (or until the water is no longer hot! if the water is hot when you put the brisket in, it will start cooking the brisket)

Place the brisket in a glass or plastic container – (like a 5 gallon bucket!) Pour the brine over the brisket until it is covered completely. Cover and refrigerate for 3 weeks (YES 3 WEEKS!), turning the brisket every couple of days.

Get your smoker going.  follow what ever instructions come with it.

Remove the brisket from the brine, and dry it.  At this point you can get rid of the brine!

Next Take 2/3 cup crushed juniper berries and 2/3 cup of ground black pepper and throw it in a bowl.  (i used a coffee grinder to grind both the juniper berries and pepper corns into a nice chunky mixture)
Take this mixture and start rubbing it into the brisket,  like your giving it a massage…  Really get it in there you know?!

anyways, make sure the whole thing is covered in the pepper mixture.

Place the brisket in the smoker and smoke for about 1 hour per pound. so 8 or 9 hours. Remove from the smoker and then place in a steamer, and steam it for another hour.

The steaming is the secret step to make it deliciously juicy.

heres the finished sandwich
on rye bread
with sour kraut,
and swiss cheese
and mustard

Jack is Cooking Macaroni and Cheese from a Box – and making it better!

Posted on by under bacon, broccoli, butter, cheese, garlic, green onions, macaroni, peas, sausage




Hello Internet!

For This concoction you will need any kind of macaroni and cheese that comes in a box. it usually will cost anywhere from 49¢ to $2.00

then whatever you want to put in it!

here are some things i reccomend
sausage
peas
garlic
onions
broccoli
peppers
bacon

and pretty much anything else you can imagine that you think would be delicious!

so this is a pretty lazy one, but one day i will make a real macaroni and cheese video.

http://www.jackiscooking.com